Infiltrated, overgrown, feral: cities have never been pure. In Berlin, urban ecology has been researching spontaneous vegetation since the 1950s. Urban space has always emerged from plant presence and natural-cultural encounters. With Anna Tsing, this contamination can be understood as collaboration, an intertwining of humans and plants. What kind of nature-culture boundaries are being drawn or challenged, today, on urban wastelands, in botanical gardens, in Tiergarten, and in the cracks of urban infrastructures? Where is the growth of plants monitored, curated, neglected? We ask ourselves: What would a Feral Atlas for Berlin look like?

The transdisciplinary student research group “Becoming Contaminated” explored the possibilities of urban research along human-plant relationships and gathered the process into a zine composed of artistic research projects that will be presented on site. The publication will be accompanied by talks and a discussion with experts from theory and practice.

An event of the X-Tutorial “Becoming Contaminated. Exploring the Ruins of Purity”, organized by Jann Mausen and Jonas Möller and the participants: Alena Trapp, Anna Eckert, Antonia Lembcke, Belinda Rhein, Berta Fischer, Bianca Karsch, Caitlin Mulligan, Daniel Geiling, Emma Baustert, Jul Neetz, Laura Ofschanni, Lauren Felten, Lena Löhnert, Leo Grösch, Lisa Grof, Lola Gnädiger, Lotte Thierbach, Maja Poppe, Melanie Leuschner, Nelson Wilhelm, Niklas Wobbe, Tizian Schneider.